My Streamer died .. :-(

[Patrik]

Just came back from practice with the band tonight and I'm really pissed off ... and I look like a sad dog ... or a wet cat for that matter.

My SS1 died on me tonight! Several times, during one song. It just went totally silent ... zip ZERO, nada, ingenting, nothing!!!

The syndrome:
- Short periods of silence, 1-5 seconds each.
- Played well 1 hour before it happened.
- Played well 1 hour after it happened.

The facts:
- Battery is new, since March 2007.
- The bass was plugged in approximately 20 hours since last battery change.
- Battery model: Duracell with expiry date well within limits.
- No distortion whatsoever before the bass die and came back up again.
- The rest of the band (e-drums, key-board, vocals) were playing through the same PA.

Experiences anyone?

 

[ThirdthumB]

How do you know for sure it's the bass that's faulty..............??

Why not an amp that's faulty, thinking it's over heated or something......... :?

 

[Grgzilla]

Hi Patrik,
It could be the lead mate.A very similar thing happened to my bass & it turned out to be the Planet Waves circuit breaker leads with a right angled jack.I changed to a straight jack & problem solved,but not before almost going nuts trying to sort out what it was.
Let us know how ya go mate.

 

[Gerry]

Say it aint so Scuba! Ok, when my batts die they do so suddenly but there is no coming back ever so I doubt that's it. I suspect the input jack. I'm guessing you checked the amp with another bass so other than that I will watch this post closely and I'm pulling for you.

 

[Patrik]

How do you know for sure it's the bass that's faulty..............??

Why not an amp that's faulty, thinking it's over heated or something......... :?

Good point! I edited my post above!

 

[Patrik]

How do you know for sure it's the bass that's faulty..............??

Why not an amp that's faulty, thinking it's over heated or something......... :?

Didn't play through my GK stack. But good point though! The PA in the studio I'm playing in needs a good makeover, even if cables and channels weren't changed.

Hi Patrik,
It could be the lead mate.A very similar thing happened to my bass & it turned out to be the Planet Waves circuit breaker leads with a right angled jack.I changed to a straight jack & problem solved,but not before almost going nuts trying to sort out what it was.
Let us know how ya go mate.

Thanks for the suggestion Greg. I tried several cables and rattled 'em all. No rattle sound whatsoever.

Say it aint so Scuba! Ok, when my batts die they do so suddenly but there is no coming back ever so I doubt that's it. I suspect the input jack. I'm guessing you checked the amp with another bass so other than that I will watch this post closely and I'm pulling for you.

Gerry, as per above, I have to exclude the cable, input-jack, the PA etc.

I'll give it a battery change but I heard people playing active pre-amps/PUs longer than that.

 

[precision]

i usually make a quick check (or if I have no other choice to verify) on battery by touching gently the two poles with the tip of my tong. i know that a new battery can really put some sensations in that part of the body, and a very used one doesn't do almost anything.

I have been trough your situation, and it turned out to be the input jack. Although my cable was mounted behind the strap, when playing and moving, the cable jack was moving too very slowly and forced somehow the input jack to break the signal from time to time. I test my theory by moving myself the jack until I found the dead spot...

hope this helps
good luck,
Adrian

 

[Casey]

Check the internal wire connections... One may have came loose. Hope you figure it out

 

[Florin]

Patrick check if no metal parts are toching inside the electronics compartment.
TRy to change the batery. I had once a faulty batery , the symtoms were similars.
Check if this is happening only in passive mode, or in active too

Sometimes new batteries are dead. Duracells are very good ones, but it hapened with them too.
I hope everything is ok mate!

 

[ALB]

Your sure it wasn't an overload on the PA system shorting out the Bass signal. When I was playing in a band the drummer and I were sharing the PA and everytime he would hit his bass drum it would cancel out my Bass sound. Just a thought, I'm not sure if you've checked this or not...

 

[Patrik]

Your sure it wasn't an overload on the PA system shorting out the Bass signal. When I was playing in a band the drummer and I were sharing the PA and everytime he would hit his bass drum it would cancel out my Bass sound. Just a thought, I'm not sure if you've checked this or not...

This is good information. We tried a new drummer yesterday and he was banging those e-drums like a chimpanzee.

 

[Shiney McShine]

Your sure it wasn't an overload on the PA system shorting out the Bass signal. When I was playing in a band the drummer and I were sharing the PA and everytime he would hit his bass drum it would cancel out my Bass sound. Just a thought, I'm not sure if you've checked this or not...

This is good information. We tried a new drummer yesterday and he was banging those e-drums like a chimpanzee.

That ain't workin'...that's the way you do it...

 

[Stroud]

Your sure it wasn't an overload on the PA system shorting out the Bass signal. When I was playing in a band the drummer and I were sharing the PA and everytime he would hit his bass drum it would cancel out my Bass sound. Just a thought, I'm not sure if you've checked this or not...

This is good information. We tried a new drummer yesterday

for which band? 300ft gorilla?

 

[Patrik]

Your sure it wasn't an overload on the PA system shorting out the Bass signal. When I was playing in a band the drummer and I were sharing the PA and everytime he would hit his bass drum it would cancel out my Bass sound. Just a thought, I'm not sure if you've checked this or not...

This is good information. We tried a new drummer yesterday

for which band? 300ft gorilla?

I think you're mixing me up with bassoctopus. His band is 300ft gorilla.

It was for my funky pop band.


Many of you speak about leads and jacks but I doubt it was that. As the bass went dead I jiggled the cable both at the bass jack and the DI box jack. No sign of any sound whatsoever. When these thing happen you usually hear a nasty sound which can blow you cabs.

When the bass came up again it played well for another hour, so I'm sorta counting out the battery.

Still have to check whether the heavy drummer overloaded the PA ... but I guess that would have had an effect on vocals, keyboard and e-drums as well.

I think it has something to do with the electronics. I'll have a closer look in the electronics cavity tonight. I anyway have to change strings and give it a good rub.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Stroud]

sorry patrick i know that full well...cant work out how i managed to make that mistake. lol sorry dude lol i feel very embarased now im meant to be a young chap with a healthy agile mind :wink:

 

[Michael J]

Try praying to the bass gods.

 

[Patrik]

Try praying to the bass gods.

:lol:

Well, as I'm not a very religious person I'd try a magnifier glass and the solder iron first.

 

[Escobon]

I think Thumbin is on to something. I'd suggest wiggling the harnessed wires in the control cavity. The connectors are white plastic. If they produce intermittence, they're likely the problem. It could be a matter of polishing contact surfaces on those connectors.

Best of luck,

O

 

[Patrik]

sorry patrick i know that full well...cant work out how i managed to make that mistake. lol sorry dude lol i feel very embarased now im meant to be a young chap with a healthy agile mind :wink:

No need to be sorry Alex, I do it all the time! I actually feel glad to be mistaken for the bass player in 300ft Gorilla! (Neil, you've got competition). :lol:

 

[Patrik]

I think Thumbin is on to something. I'd suggest wiggling the harnessed wires in the control cavity. The connectors are white plastic. If they produce intermittence, they're likely the problem. It could be a matter of polishing contact surfaces on those connectors.

Best of luck,

O

Thanks Escobon and Thumbin, I'll try that when I'm on-amp.